roundtable: Senate Approves Exon Amendment

roundtable: Senate Approves Exon Amendment

Senate Approves Exon Amendment

Vigdor Schreibman - FINS (fins@access.digex.net)
Wed, 14 Jun 1995 18:35:41 -0400 (EDT) 

Date: Wed, 14 Jun 1995 18:35:41 -0400 (EDT)
From: Vigdor Schreibman - FINS <fins@access.digex.net>
To: Vigdor Schreibman - FINS <fins@access.digex.net>
Subject: Senate Approves Exon Amendment
Message-Id: <Pine.SUN.3.91.950614183415.22312C-100000@access1.digex.net>


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FINS SPECIAL REPORT                                     June 14, 1995
=====================================================================

SENATE APPROVES EXON AMENDMENT
Dirty Words A Crime on Internet

Washington, DC--The US Senate today approved by a vote of 84 to 16 an
amendment [No. 1288, as modified] to the Telecommunications Competition
and Deregulation Act of 1995) [S.652] offered by Sen. James Exon (D-NE),
that would prohibit obscene or harassing use of telecommunications
facilities.  The law, if enacted and signed by the President would in
pertinent part prohibit the use of a telecommunications device "knowingly
to make, create, or solicit any comment, request, suggestion, proposal,
image, or other communication which is obscene, lewd, lascivious, filthy,
or indecent, with intent to annoy, abuse, threaten, or harass another
person."  Various defenses are authorized under the proposed law including
the defense that "a person has taken reasonable action in good faith to
restrict or prevent the transmission of a communication such as that
described above. 

  Another amendment introduced by Sen Patrick Leahy (D-VT), was also
approved, by voice vote, to provide for a study of the legal and technical
means of restricting access to obscenity on interactive telecommunications
systems. 

  It is now expected that a final vote on S.652 will be taken in the 
Senate by 4 pm, Thursday afternoon, June 15, 1995.

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